Top Spots for Rental Growth

Rotorua is boasting the top two suburbs throughout the country for rental growth, with Kawaha Point and Koutu seeing weekly rents grow 56% and 37% respectively over the past four years, according to the report.

Despite rents having taken a lashing over the past year due to the downturn and surplus of rentals on the market due to the accidental landlord phenomenon landlords that choose to rent rather than sell a property due to the market conditions Kawaha Points average weekly rent in quarter two 2005 was $173 and has grown to $269 in quarter two, 2009.

Similarly, Koutus 2005 average weekly rent was $162, compared to $222 the same time this year.

Rotorua has always been a popular area for property investors as house prices are affordable, and there is a good pool of tenants.

Other areas in the top 10 suburbs for rental growth featured four in Wellington, three in the greater Auckland area, plus one in Christchurch.

Top 10 suburbs for growth (Q2 2005 to Q2 2009)

The survey looked at suburbs across the country and compared rental growth over the past four years (Q2 2005 and Q2 2009).

As a whole, rental growth across the country averaged 16%. The national average weekly rent rose from $267 in 2005 to $310 in the second quarter of this year.

Over the past year, despite some areas rents dropping, some areas have managed to stay afloat and even grow.

The Auckland suburb of Mt Wellington saw a 20.4% rise in rents, from Q2 2008 to the same period this year. Likewise, average rents in Matua, Tauranga, rose 17.4% over the past 12 months. Manukaus Mangere Bridge and Bucklands Beach also saw a healthy 13.5% and 12.8% growth respectively in average rent over the past year.

Conversely, Weymouth in Wellington saw average rent drop a whopping 26.2% over the past year. Similarly, rents in Aucklands Parnell dropped a substantial 15.7%, St Kilda in Dunedin saw a 15% drop and rents in Epsom, Auckland, also fell 14.9%.